


Deduce This

by SpicyPepper_SweetSugar



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternative Universe - No Arrow, Alternative Universe - No Island, Consultant!Felicity, Detective!Oliver, Eventual Romance, Everyone works at the SCPD, F/M, Falling In Love, Partners to Lovers, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Somewhat inspired by Elementary and Sherlock Holmes, Tommy is his partner, i honestly don't know how to tag this, might continue writing for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 02:42:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15876816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpicyPepper_SweetSugar/pseuds/SpicyPepper_SweetSugar
Summary: Oliver Queen has made a name for himself within the SCPD. His boss and his co-workers respect him, the criminals on the street know it's better to avoid him and he values his work above everything else. He has a way of doing his job that works and even though his parents might not understand his choice of career, he's happy with the life that he's leading. However, when Captain Lance calls him and Tommy in to help decide whether or not to hire a consultant for the force, Oliver quickly realizes that something might have been missing from his life after all. It might have something to do with the bubbly blonde with unorthodox methods when it comes to solving crimes.





	Deduce This

**Author's Note:**

> Hello people! I'm alive and back with this little thing. I just wanted to say that I only have this one chapter written, but that I have some scenes in mind for future chapters... However, I'm not sure whether or not to continue this, so I decided to post it to see whether or not anyone would like to see more. It might be a bit weird in the beginning, but maybe you'll like weird? I watched a lot of Elementary when I first wrote this, as well as Scorpion, which is why it's kind of inspired by those two shows combined. Anyhow, I suck at summaries (which is why it was so long) and I'll probably add a bunch of tags if I continue with the story. Until then, I'll just mark it as a one-shot. Enjoy for now! :) xx

#  Case I: Felicity Smoak, P.I.

The coffee machine wasn’t working again.

Oliver glared at the buttons, eyebrows furrowed and nose scrunched up as he tried to figure out how many more complaints they had to file before the department finally invested in a proper coffee machine. It was getting ridiculous, to be honest. Most of his coworkers were heavy coffee drinkers and yet, the machine never seemed to work for more than thirty-six hours before it broke down again. Normally, Oliver could handle a day without coffee, but he had hardly slept the night before and it had nothing to do with the yoga instructor he had met a week ago. The brunette had left shortly after they finished fucking around and despite being sated, Oliver’s mind hadn’t wanted to  _ shut up. _ It happened sometimes, especially when he worked taxing cases. The most recent one had hit a bit too close to home for his partner and best friend. By relation, it had taken its emotional toll on Oliver as well. Captain Lance had given both him and Tommy a few days off afterward and this was their first official day back in the office. The day had been long and filled with paperwork, but now that it was getting late, Oliver knew that he needed a boost in energy.

_ And the fucking coffee machine isn’t working. _

“If you glare a little harder, I’m sure it’ll start up on its own.” Oliver turned, meeting Tommy’s eyes. His best friend smirked, but Oliver could see there were still bags under his eyes, indicating that he hadn’t been sleeping particularly well either.

“Tommy, hey man,” Oliver greeted. He put his hand on Tommy’s shoulder and squeezed lightly. “How are you?”

“Better.” Tommy’s reply was short and straight to the point. Oliver wasn’t going to push him on it because he knew that eventually, Tommy would talk to him about it. They had made some small talk during the day, but they had avoided discussing the events of their most recent case. “The Captain has requested our presence by the way. In his office. Five minutes ago.”

Oliver suppressed a groan. “Why didn’t you come and get me sooner?”

“Well, the man already hates your guts, so I didn’t think being a bit late would make things worse,” Tommy shrugged. “Besides, he also has this weird you-used-to-date-my-daughter-then-you-broke-her-heart-but-I-respect-you-as-a-detective-even-though-I-wanna-punch-you-in-the-face-occasionally-thing going on. That’s a fine balance that can’t be messed with.”  It was kind of impressive how Tommy managed to say all that in one breath.

“That’s exactly why I don’t want to be late whenever he calls me into his office,” Oliver glared, already moving toward Lance’s office. “Also, Laurel and I decided it was best for us to go separate ways. It was amicable.”

Tommy followed him, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, considering that she’s the District Attorney’s Assistant and you have to work together on every other case, it had to be, am I right? Considering that you were  _ this close _ ,” Tommy held up a small space between his thumb and forefinger, “to actually moving in together before you realized you weren’t in love with her anymore, I’d say she has every right to feel sour.”

“We’re still friendly, you know that. Besides, we’re professionals,” Oliver said, not wanting to discuss the matter any further. Yes, his ex-girlfriend was his boss’ daughter. The fact that his timing in breaking things off with Laurel hadn’t been the best was something that Oliver knew the Captain didn’t like. Although, it wasn’t as if Captain Lance had liked him much even when he had been dating Laurel. He had been somewhat of a playboy and he had dated Laurel on-again-off-again since high school. Back then, Oliver hadn’t cared about things like making ends meet and helping others. He had been the son of billionaires and the heir to their international family business. Of course, when his parents had threatened to cut him off, Oliver had temporarily run away for a couple of days. If someone were to ask him about it today, he wouldn’t even deny the fact that he had been so juvenile. Instead of growing up and facing his problems, he had tried to avoid them. Fortunately for him though, he had met the former Sergeant John Diggle one night in a diner a couple of miles North of Starling City. The two of them started talking about a baseball game of all things and all of the sudden, Oliver was listening to the man share one of his many army stories. Diggle told him how he eventually came back to the States and decided to become a private investigator. It became pretty clear to Oliver that his parents had sent Diggle to find him, but by that point it didn’t even bother him. He enjoyed Diggle’s company and the man seemed to see something in him that no one else had up until that point:  _ potential. _

Diggle helped him when they eventually made it back to Starling City together. He helped Oliver enroll in the Police Academy and after training for a couple of months, Oliver officially became a police officer. His parents didn’t understand and they continued to pressure him to work for the family company, but Oliver had decided that he wanted to stand on his own two feet. His best friend, Tommy Merlyn, was inspired by him. After seeing how passionate Oliver was about becoming a cop, he decided to follow in his footsteps. It became a way for the two of them to show that they had grown out of their playboy ways and that they were becoming people of their own. With Diggle’s help, Oliver eventually got his own place as well and he managed to keep a job that gave him a steady income. Tommy’s father had never threatened to cut him off, because that would imply that he was even present. Malcolm Merlyn had been neglectful of his son ever since the tragic murder of his wife Rebecca. The Queens had been the ones to take Tommy in after his father had run away to deal with his own grief. Oliver and Tommy had always been more like brothers because of that and Oliver knew that now, seven years after they had set on their journey to become police officers, he wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to watch his back when they were detectives. Back when Oliver and Tommy had still been officers, Lance had been working as a detective. The man had several years on the force under his belt and Oliver had known since the day that he had set foot in the department that Quentin wasn’t going to treat him like the others. For the most part, they had managed to avoid one another, but Lance didn’t exactly keep it a secret that he didn’t like his daughter’s boyfriend working in the same place as him.

Things changed when Oliver was shot while on duty. It was that day that started Oliver on the path that he was now heading down. Three years into being a cop he had taken a bullet for his partner and after getting out of surgery, he had realized that he couldn’t pretend that he was the same person he had been when he had first decided he wanted to become a cop. He had talked things over with Laurel and told her that he didn’t want her to waste her time with him, because he would never want the things she wanted. The house with the picket-fence, the kids and the dog… It just wasn’t something he saw in his future. He had been thinking it even before that, of course, but it wasn’t until he got shot that he realized that he had fallen out of love with Laurel and instead fallen in love with his job. Laurel might be a lawyer who valued her own work, but Oliver knew that deep down she would eventually come to resent him for putting his duty above her and their relationship.

So essentially, he had broken it off. They were still friends, he supposed, if one could call it that. They respected one another and it had been four years, after all. He had worked his ass off after that, committed himself fully to his job and eventually got promoted to detective with Tommy by his side. Together, they became respected in the department and earned a name for themselves. Lance became Captain and despite their differences, Oliver  _ did  _ respect the man and he knew it was mutual. Tommy could tease him about it all he wanted, but Oliver never liked provoking Quentin. They had a working relationship that Oliver needed to keep functioning. He wasn’t going to start testing limits, especially after being off duty for a week.

Together with Tommy, he entered Lance’s office. The Captain was glaring at his computer, angrily slamming the mouse down on the desk. Oliver glanced at Tommy, who pressed his lips together in order to keep from laughing. He shrugged and Oliver turned his attention back to Lance.

“You wanted to see us, Captain,” Oliver stated, clearing his throat.

Lance continued to stare at his screen, but he let out a grunt of acknowledgment. “Yes, yes. There’s been a murder that I’d like you to take a look at. The call came in approximately thirty minutes ago. Officers are on the scene already.”

“It’s past 9 PM,” Tommy stated, checking his watch. “I guess criminals really don’t know how to take a break.”

“Why did you call us in here?” Oliver wondered and finally, Lance looked up at the two of them.

“First of all, I wanted to make sure that the two of you were clear enough in the head to take on this case,” Lance said. “Secondly, I wanted to inform you that you’re going to be meeting up with a potential consultant for the department at the crime scene.”

“A consultant?” Oliver repeated and he didn’t really do much to hide his skepticism.

“Yes, a consultant,” Lance repeated. “She’s a private detective who has been consulting on cases all over the country. Her file tells me she’s some kind of genius who uses computer skills and deductive reasoning to solve everything from missing cats to murders.”

Oliver snorted at that. “What, is she going to be our local Sherlock Holmes or something?”

“From what I’ve heard, she doesn’t particularly enjoy that comparison,” Lance deadpanned. “Listen, this woman uses unorthodox methods sometimes, but they work, all right? I want two of my best detectives to work a case with her to see what her deal is. She’s been looking for a more permanent job that doesn’t involve too much traveling and people above me suggested our department,” Lance explained. He sounded tired too.

Oliver checked his own watch for the time and he knew that he wasn’t going to make it to movie night with Thea. His sister would understand, even though he might have to make up for it eventually with a Harry Potter marathon or something.

“I just need you guys to evaluate her work and see if the department would gain something from entering a partnership with her,” Lance said. “I’ll get her file printed for you both and you can read through it in the morning, but you’ll be meeting her tonight so I want you to follow your gut on this.”

“Understood, boss,” Tommy said, saluting him. Lance sighed and rolled his eyes. “You have nothing to worry about. I mean, you have  _ two of your best guys  _ on the case.”

Lance looked as if he wanted to smack him up the head and Oliver swallowed his own retort. It was rare for Lance to commend them when they weren’t actively working a case.

“We’ll give you our opinion first thing tomorrow morning,” Oliver said with a curt nod.

Lance nodded back at him. “I’m trusting you both to be respectful toward Ms. Smoak, okay? She just arrived into town an hour ago and is on her way from the airport. She’ll most likely meet you at the crime scene.”

“ _ No problemo _ , Captain,” Tommy winked. “I’m sure we’ll be able to handle Ms. Smoak just fine.”

***

Oliver made his way around the crime scene the same way he always did; methodically and efficiently. His and Tommy’s partnership worked so well mostly because Oliver had a knack for quick decision making whereas Tommy was good at making witnesses talk. Oliver looked over the evidence and rapidly told the other officers at the scene which items to take for which kind of test. He made his way toward Tommy, who was still talking to the distraught wife of the murder victim in the living room, when all of the sudden, he heard a car pull up on the driveway.

Oliver frowned to himself, standing in the doorway only to see a cab there. The cab-driver ran around the car as if his life depended on it and opened the door for the passenger. The lines in Oliver’s forehead deepened when a young blonde accepted the driver’s hand with a bright smile and a nod. He observed as she reached inside the car, pulling out a bag too and he couldn’t help but notice the way the material of her short pencil skirt stretched over her ass.

_ Goddamn… _

Oliver couldn’t help but narrow his eyes when he spotted the cab-driver zero in on the same sight. Through a clenched jaw, Oliver turned back to Tommy and the woman he was currently questioning. He had to focus on his job, and watching unknown women with great assets wasn’t what he had on the agenda for tonight.

His self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted though, when he heard a slight commotion outside. Oliver glanced out the window and saw that the blonde woman had tried to make her way up the lawn, toward the house.

“Ma’am,” one of the other officers said, moving quickly to block her path. “I’m afraid you can’t pass the tape. This is an active crime scene.”

The woman, who Oliver just now noticed was wearing a bright pink shirt under her coat, said something to the officer, pushing up the glasses on her face. The officer nodded curtly and moved away, letting the woman pass. Oliver got ready to intercept as she approached the house, but when she got a little closer, her eyes moved rapidly over the crime scene as she entered the hallway. It was just a split second that for some reason made Oliver pause. As the woman’s eyes scanned the crime scene, her eyes connected with Oliver’s. Where she had been eyeing the scene quickly, she seemed to hold his gaze for more than a few seconds. For some reason, it seemed to knock Oliver off his balance and he once again couldn’t help but notice how pretty the woman was.

The moment passed though, when the woman made her way past Oliver and stepped closer to Tommy and the victim’s wife. Oliver only stared after her, but when Tommy looked toward him with a questioning look, Oliver forced himself to snap out of his daze.

Tommy moved closer to Oliver, seeming just as surprised by the blonde’s sudden approach. The two of them stood silently as the blonde started babbling and yeah, there really was no other word that fit what she was doing. She talked to the wife of the murder victim about nail polish and conditioner, completely ignoring the fact that she had walked into an active crime scene.

“What the actual fuck?” Oliver mumbled under his breath, not able to take his eyes off of the woman.

“My thoughts exactly,” Tommy returned, in an equally quiet tone. “You haven’t been able to stop staring at her ass since she walked right past you and up to the victim’s wife.”

Tommy’s comment snapped Oliver out of his thoughts yet again and this time, he realized that he had indeed been staring at the woman’s ass.

“She’s crazy, right? That’s the only explanation for this kind of behavior,” Oliver said, turning to his partner.

“You did always have a thing for the crazies–”

“Tommy!” Oliver exclaimed, interrupting whatever it was that his friend had been about to say. He hadn’t been talking about the fact that he couldn’t take his eyes off of the woman’s ass, but rather the fact that she didn’t seem to have any kind of filter when it came to what was appropriate and what was not.

Shaking his head, Oliver straightened his jacket and stepped up to the woman, who was still going on about the effects of various oils on curly hair. “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to come with me and my partner,” he said, trying to remain professional and in control.

The blonde turned to him and blinked, her blue eyes filled with excitement and curiosity as she nodded. She came with him and Tommy, stepping into the other room so that they could get away from the victim’s wife who was still looking confused.

Before he had a chance to once again remind her of the laws surrounding an active crime scene, the woman stuck her hand out for him to shake. “Hi, my name is Felicity Smoak. I believe Captain Lance told you that I’d be stopping by to help?

_ Ah, she’s the P.I. _

“Considering your line of work, I’m going to assume that you would know better than to come to the scene of a crime and start discussing nail polish and shampoo with the murder victim’s wife,” Oliver said. His voice came out a bit snappier than he intended, but he was having trouble reigning his annoyance in.

The woman–  _ Felicity,  _ pursed her lips and Oliver did his best not to imagine the pink marks that she must leave on her coffee cups. “Conditioner,” she said, making Oliver pause.

“What?” he frowned.

“I believe that I specifically talked about conditioner, not shampoo,” Felicity said, as if he had somehow offended her by mixing up the two.

Tommy snorted and it wasn’t until then that Oliver realized that his partner had come to stand by his side.

“I fail to see the relevance of the conversation, whether it’s about conditioner or shampoo,” Oliver said through gritted teeth.

“Well, it’s simple really,” Felicity said, tilting her head to the side in a curious manner. “The wife is the murderer.”

Oliver stared at her. “Excuse me?”

Felicity smiled, almost softly and he realized that his eyes had yet again been drawn to her pink lips. “The wife,” Felicity repeated. “She murdered her husband.”

“And how would you know that?” Oliver asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He waited patiently as she seemed to sort out her thoughts before clearing her throat.

“Well, you see,” she started, “they’ve been having some trouble recently, since the husband has been sleeping on the couch. The cushions are slightly pressed down and caved in a way that indicates someone laying vertically on them regularly and for quite some time. Mr. Landon most likely recently threatened to file for divorce due to her cheating on him, which I’ve confirmed through my… Alternative channels.” There was a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks, but she continued either way. “Anyway, the term  _ divorce  _ is key here because Mr. Landon had Mrs. Landon sign a prenup before they married, stating that she wouldn’t get anything from him in case of a divorce due to her unfaithfulness. Of course, that makes me wonder just how sure he was that she would end up cheating on her, and why would anyone marry someone who they are sure would cheat on them? Seems kind of counterproductive, doesn’t it?” Felicity asked, blinking up at Oliver and Tommy. “Anyhow, Mrs. Landon  _ does _ , however, stand to benefit from her husband’s untimely death. So, she decided to murder him, pretend to be the distraught and mourning widow for a while so she could inherit his fortune and then run off with her secret lover, most likely to Aruba.”

Oliver looked at his partner, who seemed amused at the blonde woman’s tangent. “Sounds like a crazy theory,” Tommy stated.

“Crazy as it is, it’s also most likely true,” Felicity shrugged.

“And how do you know that?” Oliver questioned. He was a little annoyed by the time that was being wasted, but at the same time he was curious to know what was going through Felicity’s head.

“Hm… The call to the precinct came in around 9 PM, but the coroner mentioned in his preliminary assessment that the time of death must have been around 7 PM. If the wife came home at 9 and saw her husband laying on the kitchen floor with stab wounds all over his chest, she would hardly have had the time to shower and reapply her nail polish before she called the SCPD,” Felicity said. “Now, if she murdered him around 7 and then proceeded to take a shower to rid herself of the evidence on her body, she would have had the time to not only use shampoo, but also conditioner. She’s recently dried her hair with a blow-dryer as well, if her floof is anything to go by, which means she took her time to look perfectly presentable as a grieving widow before calling the cops in fake hysteria.”

Once again, Oliver looked at his partner, who was now staring at Felicity with his mouth slightly open. Oliver cleared his throat, “I’m sorry, did you just say ‘floof’?”

“To describe the level of bounciness in Mrs. Landon’s hair, yes,” Felicity confirmed. “If you still don’t believe my theory though, you can take a look at her hands. Since she was in a hurry, she didn’t let her nails dry properly and left imprints on the surface as she moved around the house before the cops showed up. Normally, civilians who commit these kinds of murders aren’t very prepared to deal with the aftermath. I’m guessing there’s a washing machine running somewhere in the basement, getting rid of the blood on her clothes as we speak,” she said, tapping her chin lightly. “Oh, and also, check the shower. The floor and the shower curtain should still be wet, and there should be traces of blood visible,” she added upon further thought. Then, she smiled and Oliver could once again only stare at her brightly colored lips before he shook himself out of his daze.

“I’ll take it you can handle the rest, detectives,” Felicity said, lifting her bag up on her shoulder. “Captain Lance has my number if he feels like discussing a working schedule, otherwise I’m sure you fine gentlemen will be able to reach me as you see fit. I’ll most likely spend my days at Jitters across the street from my newly acquired apartment. It’s such a great place to observe people… Anyway, I trust we’ll be in touch. Good luck with the arrest and have a nice evening.”

With a curt nod of her head and brief eye-contact with Oliver, Felicity turned on her heel and walked off. Oliver’s gaze fell and settled on the sway of her hips and he swallowed thickly before checking his clock.

Twenty minutes. She’d been there for twenty minutes and had, according to her, already solved the case. Of course, they needed to confirm her theory and even though he hated to admit it, Oliver thought it sounded pretty legit. He’d had his suspicions about the wife, but he usually needed more evidence to build up his theories. Felicity’s was purely circumstantial, at least until they made sure that there really was traces of Mr. Landon’s blood in the shower. Tommy had sent a text message to their friend on the forensics team and Oliver heard the familiar  _ ping  _ when his friend got a reply. He didn’t need to ask Tommy about what it said to know that Felicity’s theory had been confirmed.

Oliver watched as a cab pulled up and Felicity got into the car, saying something to the driver. She glanced back at them and Oliver could have sworn there was a smile on her face, because for some reason, just the look of her made his stomach churn in a way that it hadn’t for years.

“Goddamn,” Tommy breathed out next to him. “She was… something.”

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed, tongue darting out to wet his lips before he reached for his handcuffs to make the arrest. “Something.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please share your thoughts. It helps a lot to know whether or not people like the story. Lots of love! xx


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